In Dance City’s theatre for the autumn season launch, Anand Bhatt, Artistic Director, presented the evening seated on stage in an armchair by a coffee table, inviting his guests on stage to join him and talk a little about the work they are bringing during the autumn season.
Those artists who couldn‘t be there physically were on Zoom and this was mixed with trailers and live dance, most notably an opening solo, performed by North East based dancer Alyssa Lisle, with wonderful live music from Folknery, accompanied by singer Boguslavka. This will form part of Rendez-Vous Dance’s The Queers Support Ukraine on Tuesday 6 December.
The launch had a different tone to previously and included some class and workshop event information, as well as an eclectic programme of dance and dance theatre for all ages.
Opening the season on Saturday 10 September is award-winning spoken word, hip hop and theatre performance Family Honour by Kwame Asafo-Adjei. Other performances that stood out are The Four Seasons on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 November, featuring the return of James Wilton Dance using Max Richter’s re-visioning of Vivaldi’s justly famous The Four Seasons and Roma on 9 December. Roma, created by North East based Anthony Lo-Giudice Dance, is touring across the region, including Durham Cathedral and York Minster on 18 and 25 November respectively.
Popular Inspire Festival of dance and ageing returns on Saturday 1 October and for the little ones—and I mean little 0–2—there’s Underwater by Greek dance artist Xenia Aidonopoulou and Georgia Tegou on 27 October. Joss Arnott’s family show Tin man will be performed on 11 November in the new theatre in Sunderland, The Fire Station, before landing in Newcastle on 14 December in time for Christmas.
The new partnership with Northern Stage means that larger dance shows can be performed on their wide stage and this includes Samsara, arriving on 14 October with 5-star reviews from the Edinburgh Fringe, and BalletLORENT’s family-friendly Rapunzel (29 September– 2 October) with the addition of their new adult only version Rapunzel After Dark (30 September–1 October).
Catch the biggest productions of all at Theatre Royal starting with Les Ballets Trockadero 18–19 October and Northern Ballet’s The Little Mermaid 25–29 October.
It’s all rounded off on 17 December with Vogue Ball, ending the season on a glamorous, sparkly high.
The fresh, newly designed brochure contains all the class and performance dates and times, including ticket deals, multi-buys and a membership scheme, which covers both theatre shows and classes.